March 17, 2010

Oh Kendra…White Women/Mixed Kids

Every time I start to wonder if I’m doing “too much” by contributing to this multiracial discourse, something tells me I’m not. It’s like Vito Coreleone:

In one of my earlier posts I discuss the foundation of the modern multiracial movement, specifically the role of White women and their desire to preserve social whiteness for their children by changing blood quantum social and legal practices, while keeping racist scientific reasoning to maintain the racial hierarchy that privileges benefits them. Note that they didn’t want to remove the idea of blood quantum, they just didn’t want it to apply to their children. Kendra, former “girlfriend” to Hugh Hefner is the mother of a biracial child. After years of ghetto posturing she was finally able to find a black-ish man (extremely mediocre NFL player) who took her seriously enough to actually marry her. Within a year, they had a son.

Pay attention to her response regarding racism to Star Magazine:

STAR: Because Little Hank is biracial, do you worry he will face racism?

Kendra: No. He’s 50 percent me and 50 percent Hank. Hank actually has a lot of red in his beard. Right now Hank Jr. has auburn hair and blue eyes–he’s beautiful.

So let’s deconstruct what Kendra is basically saying. 1.She is saying her child is beautiful because he has auburn hair and blue eyes. 2. Hank Jr. won’t actually look black enough to experience racism (because only REALLY black people do) 3. The auburn hair is meant to signify Whiteness (I think Malcolm X was called “red” as well, lol), so they will know they can’t treat him too badly.

We all know Kendra isn’t bright. She spent a good chunk of her formative years on drugs, mustered up some money to buy herself some tits, and shot to fame playing cum-bucket for an octogenarian. But I just want to expose my readers to one of the foundational faces of the multiracial movement. So Kendra REFUSES to deal with the possibility that when this child grows up, he may get darker (as many children of African heritage do), and may be confused by his subordinate position in this world based soley on his shading. Even if that shading isn’t the darkest on the spectrum. I just hope her son doesn’t grow up blaming Black people for his confusion.

And I should add that Kendra could be right. Her son could look entirely White as an adult. But then I must ask, how would she explain to him that she spent her youth snorting coke and giving blow jobs to men on the brink of death until she finally convinced a black guy she was hoodrattish enough to be relatable to blacks, and therefore marriage-worthy?? I have a feeling that struggle will be as difficult as the racial one.

Next up on the discussion agenda is Toure Neblett. Yeah yeah…I barely know who he is too.

But I think that it is true though you only do experience black racism if you appear black. If you see someone with light skin, red hair, and blue eyes everyone assumes they are white, even if you take away the light skin and put on a darker tan they would pass as white, NO ONE would give them a second look. But a person with white skin, tightly curled hair, and darker colored eyes would be always looked at and labeled black even if they have two white parents. And not all black people experience racism.